4:14, 15 never defiled. Ezekiel, like Daniel, had convictions to be undefiled even in his food (cf. Dan. 1:8 and see note there). God permitted fuel of dried cow chips for cooking his food in gracious deference to His spokesman’s sensitivity (cf. 44:31).
4:16, 17 They were soon to have neither bread nor water in any amount, and they were to grieve over the famine and their iniquity (cf. Lev. 26:21–26).
Ezekiel 5
5:1–4 a barber’s razor. The sign in shaving his hair illustrated the severe humiliation to come at the hand of enemies, emphasizing calamities to three segments of Jerusalem due to the Babylonian conquest. Some were punished by fire, i.e., pestilence and famine (v. 12), others died by the enemy’s sword, and some were dispersed and pursued by death (cf. v. 12). A small part of his hair clinging to his garment (v. 3) depicted a remaining remnant, some of whom were subject to further calamity (v. 4; cf. 6:8; Jer. 41–44).
5:5 Jerusalem. Here the great city alone was not meant, but was used as a representative of the whole land which, despite its strategic opportunity and responsibility, rejected God (vv. 6, 7).
5:7 Instead of being a witness to the heathen nations, Israel had exceeded them in idolatrous practices. The nations maintained their familiar idols, while Israel defected from their true and living God. God’s people were worse than the pagans in proportion to spiritual knowledge and privileges. The judgments of God are always relative to light and privilege granted. Since Ezekiel’s people were unique in their disobedience, they were to be outstanding in their punishment.
5:8–10 The book of Lamentations reveals how literally these promises were realized when parents ate their children and sons ate their fathers in the times of starvation. Down through the centuries had come the threats of Lev. 26:29 and Deut. 28:53, taken up by Jeremiah (Jer. 19:9; Lam. 2:22; 4:10; cf. Is. 9:20), and sealed in the life of the disobedient nation. Even the remnant would be scattered and suffer.
5:11 as I live. Here was a solemn oath pledging the very existence of God for the fulfillment of the prophecy. It is found 14 times in this book. Their greatest sin was defiling the sanctuary, showing the height of their wickedness.
5:12 The 4 well known judgments (cf. vv. 2–4) of pestilence, famine, sword, and scattering were their judgment. They had no place to offer atoning blood, thus bearing their sins without relief.
5:13–15 Ezekiel’s purpose was to impress on Israel’s conscience God’s intense hatred of idolatry and apostasy. “Fury” and “anger” are repeated 6 times.
5:16 arrows of famine. The evil arrows included hail, rain, mice, locusts, and mildew (cf. Deut. 32:23, 24).
5:17 I, the LORD, have spoken. Cf. vv. 13, 15 for the same expression, which was God’s personal signature on their doom.
Ezekiel 6
6:3 says the LORD…to the mountains. God had the prophet do this because the people worshiped at idol altars in the “high places” (cf. Lev. 26:30–33; Is. 65:7; Jer. 3:6; Hos. 4:13; Mic. 6:1, 2).
6:7 you shall know that I am the LORD. This clause recurs in vv. 10, 13, 14 and 60 times elsewhere in the book. It shows that the essential reason for judgment is the violation of the character of God. This is repeatedly acknowledged in Lev. 18–26, where the motive for all obedience to God’s law is the fact that He is the Lord God.
6:8–10 The mass of people was rejected, but grace and mercy were given to a godly group in the nation. There never has been nor ever will be a complete end to Israel. The doctrine of the remnant can be studied in Is. 1:9; 10:20; Jer. 43:5; Zeph. 2:7; 3:13; Zech. 10:9; Rom. 9:6–13; 11:5.
6:14 Diblah. A reference to Diblathaim, a city on the eastern edge of Moab (Num. 33:46; Jer. 48:22), near the desert E and S of the Dead Sea.
Ezekiel 7
7:1–9 This lament declared that the entire land of Israel was ripe for judgment. God’s patience had ended. The final destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was in view (586 B.C.).
7:10 rod has blossomed. Verse 11 explains this. Violence had grown up into a rod of wickedness, which likely refers to Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument of God’s vengeance (cf. Is. 10:5; Jer. 51:20).
7:12 buyer rejoice…seller mourn. Such matters of business were meaningless because the Chaldeans (Babylonians) took all the land and killed those they didn’t take captive (v. 15) and the rest escaped (v. 16). Wealth was useless (vv. 19, 20).
7:13 seller shall not return to…sold. There was to be no Jubilee year in which all lands were returned to their original owners (cf. Lev. 25).
7:17–22 This section described the mourning of the helpless and frightened people. In distress, they recognized the uselessness of the things in which they trusted. Their wealth provided nothing. Their “silver and gold” (v. 19), their “ornaments” (v. 20) were as useless as the idols they made with them.
7:22 My secret place. The Holy of Holies in the temple will be desecrated by pagans, that place where only once a year the High-Priest could enter to make atonement in God’s presence.
7:23 Make a chain. Ezekiel is to perform another emblematic act of captivity (cf. Jer. 27:2; Nah. 3:10).
7:24 the worst of the Gentiles. Babylonian pagans.
7:27 according to what they deserve. Cf. Gen. 18:25.
Ezekiel 8
8:1 the sixth year. 592 B.C. (cf. 1:2) in Aug./Sep., a year and two months after the first vision (1:1). the hand of the LORD. This ushered the prophet into a series of visions (v. 3) stretching to the end of chap. 11.
8:2 a likeness. He saw the glory of the Lord (v. 4) as in 1:26–28.
8:3 in visions of God. Ezekiel 8–11 deals with details conveyed only to Ezekiel in visions. Ezekiel’s trip to Jerusalem was in spirit only, while his body physically remained in his house. In visions, he went to Jerusalem and in visions he returned to Babylon (11:24). After God finished the visions, Ezekiel told his home audience what he had seen. The visions are not a description of deeds done in the past in Israel, but a survey of Israel’s current condition, as they existed at that very time. the seat…image of jealousy. God represents to Ezekiel the image of an idol (cf. Deut. 4:16) in the entrance to the inner court of the temple. It is called “the image of jealousy” because it provoked the Lord to jealousy (5:13; 16:38; 36:6; 38:19; Ex. 20:5).
8:4 the glory of…God. God was also there in glory, but was ignored while the people worshiped the idol (v. 6).
8:6 to make Me go far away. Sin would expel the people from their land and God from His sanctuary.
8:7–12 This section describes “greater abominations” (v. 6) of idolatry, namely a secret cult of idolatrous elders.
8:8 dig into the wall…a door. This indicates the clandestine (cf. v. 12) secrecy of these idolaters, practicing their cult in hiding.
8:10 portrayed…on the walls. The temple’s walls are ugly with graffiti featuring creatures linked with Egyptian animal cults (cf. Rom 1:23) and other idols. Leaders of Israel, who should be worshiping the God of the temple, are offering incense to them (v. 11).
8:11 seventy…elders. Obviously not the Sanhedrin, since it was not formed until after the restoration from Babylon, though the pattern had been suggested much earlier (cf. Ex. 24:9, 10; Num. 11:16). These men were appointed to guard against idolatry! Jaazaniah…son of Shaphan. If he was the son of the Shaphan who read God’s Word to Josiah (2 Kin. 22:8–11), we have some concept of the depth of sin to which the leaders had fallen. He is not to be confused with the man in 11:1, who had a different father.
8:14 weeping for Tammuz. Yet a greater abomination than the secret cult was Israel’s engaging in the Babylonian worship of Tammuz or Dumuzi (Duzu), beloved of Ishtar, the god of spring vegetation. Vegetation burned in the summer, died in the winter, and came to life in the spring. The women mourned over the god’s demise in July and longed for his revival. The fourth month of the Hebrew calendar still bears the name Tammuz. With the worship of this idol were connected the basest immoralities.
8:16 worshiping the sun. In the most sacred inner court where only priests could go (Jo
el 2:17), there was the crowning insult to God. Twenty-five men were worshiping the sun as an idol (cf. Deut. 4:19; 2 Kin. 23:5, 11; Job 31:26; Jer. 44:17). These 25 represent the 24 orders of priests plus the High-Priest.
8:17 put the branch to their nose. The meaning is uncertain, but it seems to have been some act of contempt toward God. The Gr. OT translators rendered it, “they are as mockers.”
8:18 I…will act in fury. God must judge intensely due to such horrible sins (cf. 24:9, 10).
Ezekiel 9
9:1 charge over the city. God summoned His servant angels to carry out His judgments. These angelic executioners (cf. Dan. 4:13, 17, 23) came equipped with weapons of destruction.
9:2 six men. Angels can appear like men when ministering on earth (cf. Gen. 18:1; Dan. 9:20–23). One man. He was superior to the others. Linen indicates high rank (cf. Dan. 10:5; 12:6). Perhaps this was the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ (see note on Ex. 3:2). He had all the instruments of an oriental scribe to carry out His task (vv. 4, 11).
9:3 the glory…had gone up. The glory of God departs before the destruction of the city and temple. The gradual departure of God from His temple is depicted in stages: the glory resides in the temple’s Most Holy Place, between the wings of the cherubs on each side of the ark of the covenant over the mercy seat, then leaves to the front door (9:3; 10:4), later to the E gate by the outer wall (10:18, 19), and finally to the Mt. of Olives to the E, having fully departed (11:22, 23). The glory will return in the future kingdom of Messiah (43:2–7).
9:4 a mark on the foreheads. Since God’s departure removed all protection and gave the people over to destruction, it was necessary for the angelic scribe (Angel of the Lord) to mark for God’s preservation the righteous who had been faithful to Him. Those left unmarked were subject to death in Babylon’s siege (v. 5). The mark was the indication of God’s elect, identified personally by the pre-incarnate Christ. He was marking the elect (cf. Ex. 12:7). Malachi 3:16–18 indicates a similar idea. Cf. Rev. 7:3; 9:4. The marked ones were penitent and were identified for protection. Here was a respite of grace for the remnant. The rest were to be killed (vv. 5–7).
9:8 Will You destroy all? Ezekiel is fearfully aroused in prayer because the judgment on Jerusalem and Israel is so vast. God replies that pervasive sin demands thorough judgment (vv. 9, 10), yet comforts him by the report that the faithful had been marked to be spared (v. 11). Cf. Rom 11:1, 2, 25–27.
Ezekiel 10
10:1 a throne. It rises above God’s angelic servants, the same 4 as in chap. 1 (10:20, 22), and is the throne of 1:26–28 on which God sits (cf. 10:20). From it, He directs the operation of His war machine (“wheels,” see notes on 1:15, 16) on Jerusalem (v. 2). The throne is like a sapphire shining forth representing God’s glory and holiness (11:22).
10:2 fill…with coals. God specifies that the marking angel (9:2, 11) reach into the war machine and fill his hands with fiery coals in the presence of the angels of chap. 1. These coals picture the fires of judgment which God’s angels are to “scatter” on Jerusalem. In Is. 6, “coals” were used for the purification of the prophet; here they were for the destruction of the wicked (cf. Heb. 12:29). Fire did destroy Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
10:3 cherubim. These were different from the cherubim of chap. 1 and here in v. 4.
10:4 This verse explains how the “cloud” of v. 3 “filled the inner court.” It repeats what is first described in 9:3.
10:6, 7 These verses picked up the action of the angelic scribe from v. 2.
10:7 cherub…put it into the hands. One of the 4 cherubim of 1:5ff. and v. 1 puts the fiery coals into the marking angel’s hand.
10:9–17 wheels by the cherubim. This whole section is similar to 1:4–21. Four wheels on God’s chariot mingled with the 4 angels (cf. 1:15–21) coordinated with each other in precision, and each with a different one of the cherubim. All looked so much alike that it was as if one wheel blended entirely with another (v. 10). As their appearance was so unified, their action was in unison, and instant (v. 11). The cherubim had bodies like men and their chariot wheels were full of eyes denoting full perception both to see the sinners and their fitting judgment. The color beryl is a sparkling yellow or gold.
10:14 the face of a cherub. This description of one cherub in 1:10 indicates this was the face of an ox.
10:15 lifted up. They were all ready to move in unison (vv. 16, 17) as the Shekinah glory of God departed (v. 18).
10:18, 19 glory…departed. There were several stages: 9:3; 10:1, 3, 4; 10:18, 19; 11:22, 23. There was thus written over the entire structure, as well as Israel’s spiritual life, “Ichabod” (the glory has departed). Cf. 1 Sam. 4:21; 10:18, 19.
Ezekiel 11
11:1 twenty-five men. Ezekiel, though at the temple only in the vision (cf. 8:3, and see note there), saw because God, who was everywhere present and all-knowing, impressed specific details on him in the vision. The wicked leaders (cf. v. 2) were part of God’s reason for the judgment (vv. 8, 10). Ezekiel was taken in spirit to the very place which the glory of God had left in 10:19 and was given a vision of “twenty-five men,” who represented, not priests, but influential leaders among the people, who gave fatal advice to the people (v. 2). Jaazaniah the son of Azzur. See note on 8:11.
11:3 caldron…meat. Though this is obscure, it may be that the bad advice these leaders were giving was that the people should not be engaged in business as usual, “building houses” or taking care of their comfort and futures, when they were about to be cooked like meat in a pot over a blazing fire. The idea must have been that the people should get ready for battle, and be prepared to fight, not focusing on comfort, but survival. Jeremiah had told the people to surrender to the Babylonians and save their lives, rather than fight and be killed (cf. Jer. 27:9–17). These false leaders, like the prophets and priests whom Jeremiah confronted for telling the people not to submit, scorned Jeremiah’s words from God and would pay for it (v. 4). Cf. 24:1–14.
11:6 multiplied your slain. Leaders who misled Israel by inciting false expectations of a victorious defense, rather than peaceful surrender, were responsible for the deadly results. Many people died in resisting Babylon.
11:7 I shall bring you out. The false leaders thought that unless they fought, they would all be in a caldron, i.e., the city. But here the Lord promised that some would be delivered from the city, only to die on Israel’s border in the wilderness (vv. 8–11). This was literally fulfilled at Riblah (cf. 2 Kin. 25:18–21; Jer. 52:24–27).
11:13 Pelatiah…died. The death of one leader from v. 1 was a sign that God would indeed carry out His word. Apparently this leader did die suddenly at the time Ezekiel was shown the vision, so that the prophet feared that this death meant death for all Israelites (9:8).
11:14, 15 Ezekiel was told he had a new family, not the priests at Jerusalem to whom he was tied by blood, but his fellow exiles in Babylon, identified as those who were treated as outcasts. The priesthood was about to be ended and he was to have a new family.
11:15 Get far away. The contemptuous words of those still left in Jerusalem at the carrying away of Jeconiah and the exiles indicated that they felt smugly secure and believed the land was their possession.
11:16 little sanctuary. This is better rendered “for a little while,” i.e., however long the captivity lasted. God was to be the protection and provision for those who had been scattered through all the 70 years until they were restored. The exiles may have cast off the Jews, but God had not (Is. 8:14). This holds true for the future restoration of the Jews (vv. 17, 18).
11:19, 20 a new spirit. God pledged not only to restore Ezekiel’s people to their ancient land, but to bring the New Covenant with its blessings. Cf. 36:25–28, and see note on Jer. 31:31–34.
11:23 the mountain…east. The glory of God moved to the Mt. of Olives to which the glorious Son of God will return at the Second Advent (cf. 43:1–5; Zech. 14:4).
11:24 brought me in a vision. Again, Ezekiel has remained bodily in his Ba
bylonian house, seen by his visitors (v. 25; 8:1). God, who supernaturally showed him a vision in Jerusalem, caused his sense of awareness to return to Chaldea, thus ending the vision state. Once the vision was completed, Ezekiel was able to tell his exiled countrymen what God had shown him (v. 25).
Ezekiel 12
12:2 a rebellious house. The message of Ezekiel was addressed to his fellow exiles who were as hardened as those still in Jerusalem. They were so intent on a quick return to Jerusalem, that they would not accept his message of Jerusalem’s destruction. Their rebellion is described in familiar terms (Deut. 29:1–4; Is. 6:9, 10; Jer. 5:21; cf. Matt. 13:13–15; Acts 28:26, 27).
12:3 prepare…for captivity. This dramatic object lesson by the prophet called for carrying belongings out in a stealthy way as an act that depicted baggage for exile, just the bare necessities. His countrymen carried out such baggage when they went into captivity, or sought to escape during Babylon’s takeover of Jerusalem (vv. 7, 11). Some attempting to escape were caught as in a net, like King Zedekiah who was overtaken, blinded, and forced into exile (vv. 12, 13; 2 Kin. 24:18—25:7; Jer. 39:4–7; 52:1–11). Verse 9 indicates that Ezekiel actually did what he was told.
12:5 This section depicts those in desperation trying to escape from their sun-dried brick homes.
12:6 cover your face. This was to avoid recognition.
12:10–13 the prince. This is a reference to King Zedekiah, who was always referred to by Ezekiel as prince, never king. Jehoiachin was regarded as the true king (cf. 17:13), because the Babylonians never deposed him formally. All the house of Israel, however, shared the calamity to fall on Zedekiah. How literally these prophecies were fulfilled can be seen from the account in 2 Kin. 25:1–7. The “net” and “snare” (v. 13) were the Babylonian army. He was taken captive to Babylon, but he never saw it because his eyes had been put out at Riblah.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 393
